It’s not final — but Owen Sound councillors are close to approving a nearly 6 percent tax hike for 2010.
Two days of discussions wrapped up Friday and Mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners says they are almost exactly where they started.
Mayor Lovell Stanners says the proposed hike is now at 5.81 per cent, but she says the overall impact should be a lot less.
The Mayor is hoping Grey County hits its target of a zero per cent increase.
So combined — property taxpayers in Owen Sound would be looking at a roughly 3 per cent overall hike this year.
Grey County is benefiting from an upload of social service costs by the province, and the result could be the zero percent tax hike, or even a drop slightly.
The Owen Sound budget won’t be finalized until late in March.
Mayor Lovell Stanners says they will also hold a public meeting in the next few weeks, to get feedback from ratepayers.
Meanwhile, suggestions that the city hike the fee for bag tags by 25 cents to 2.25 was shot down.
Mayor Lovell Stanners says there was a lot of discussion about hiking the fee, but it was voted down, partly because the city is still adjusting to bi-weekly garbage pickup.
That change only happened in the summer, and some councillors felt another change wasn’t in the cards at this time.
The proposed fee hike would have raised some 44 thousand dollars for the city.